INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS PUBLISHING J. Micromech. Microeng.

13 (2003) 628633

JOURNAL OF MICROMECHANICS AND MICROENGINEERING PII: S0960-1317(03)60061-6

Liquid crystal polymer (LCP) for MEMS: processes and applications

Xuefeng Wang, Jonathan Engel and Chang Liu
Micro Actuators, Sensors and Systems Group, Micro and Nanotechnology Laboratory, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA E-mail: changliu@uiuc.edu

Received 26 February 2003, in nal form 6 May 2003 Published 28 May 2003 Online at stacks.iop.org/JMM/13/628 Abstract In this paper we discuss newly developed microfabrication methods for liquid crystal polymer (LCP). LCP is a thermoplastic polymer made of aligned molecule chains with crystal-like spatial regularity. It exhibits unique electrical, physical and chemical properties, making it suitable for certain MEMS applications. MEMS-compatible fabrication processes such as metallization, plasma bulk etching and thermal bonding have been developed in our work. We demonstrated two micro sensor applications involving the LCP material.

1. Introduction
1.1. Recent trend of using polymer in MEMS Micromachining technology for microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) was derived from integrated circuit fabrication. Naturally, silicon has been the predominant material choice. In recent years, polymers have emerged as an important new class of materials for MEMS applications. There are a number of unique characteristics for using polymer materials in MEMS. First, the cost of the material is much lower than that of single-crystal silicon. Second, many polymer materials allow exible fabrication and packaging techniques such as thermal micromolding, thermal embossing and injection molding. Third, certain polymers offer unique physical and chemical properties that are not available in silicon and silicon-derived materials. Examples of such properties include high mechanical fracture limit and biocompatibility. Polymer materials generally have a lower melting temperature than silicon and related thin lm materials and therefore work well in situations where temperature stability is not a concern. A signicant number of polymer materials have been introduced for MEMS applications in recent years. Examples of polymers used in MEMS include polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), biodegradable polymers, polyparaxylylene (parylene), polyesters, polyimide and ceramic tapes. Polymers such as PDMS [15] are nontoxic and compatible with biological tissues; thus, they are suitable for biomedical applications such as cell handling. For
0960-1317/03/050628+06$30.00

example, Zeringue et al demonstrated a microuid system made of PDMS for cell manipulation [6]. Thermoplastic polymers have been used to make inexpensive microuid channels. Armani et al reported research on polycaprolactone (PCL), a biodegradable polymer that can naturally degrade and dissolve in tissues over a period of time [7]. Dupont Green Tape, a ceramic polymer material, has also been used for a number of applications, including a micromachined pressure sensor [8, 9]. Other materials include polyimide (including spin-on polyimide and Kapton R [10, 11]), and plastics (including polycarbonate, acrylic plastics and Parylene [1216]). 1.2. Introduction to LCP materials The liquid crystal polymer is a thermoplastic polymer material with unique structural and physical properties. It contains rigid and exible monomers that link to each other. When owing in the liquid crystal state, rigid segments of the molecules align next to one another in the direction of shear ow. Once this orientation is formed, their direction and structure persist, even when LCP is cooled below the melting temperature [17, 18]. This is different from most thermoplastic polymers (e.g., Kapton), whose molecules are randomly oriented in the solid state. As a result of the unique structure, LCP offers a combination of electrical, thermal, mechanical and chemical properties unmatched by other engineering polymers. It was originally used as a high-performance thermoplastic material for high-density printed circuit board (PCB) fabrication 628

2003 IOP Publishing Ltd Printed in the UK

Liquid crystal polymer for MEMS: processes and applications

[19, 20] and semiconductor packaging [17]. Results from high-frequency tests show that LCP has a uniform relative dielectric constant of 3 in the range 0.5 to 40 GHz and an extremely low loss factor of 0.004 [17]. LCP has very low moisture absorption (0.02%) and low moisture permeability [17]. For other gases, including oxygen, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, argon, hydrogen and helium, LCP also exhibits above-average barrier performance. Further, the permeation of gases through LCP is not affected by humidity, even in an environment with elevated temperature (e.g., 150 C) [20]. The LCP lm also shows excellent chemical resistance. Research shows that LCP is virtually unaffected by most acids, bases and solvents for a considerably long time and over a broad temperature range [20]. In terms of mechanical properties, the thermal expansion coefcient of the LCP material can be controlled during the fabrication process to be both small and predictable [17]. For LCP lm with uniaxial molecule orientation, its mechanical properties are anisotropic and dependent on the polymer orientation. For instance, the uniaxial LCP lm can withstand less load in the transverse direction (i.e., the direction orthogonal to the orientation of its molecules) than in the longitudinal direction (i.e., the direction along the orientation of its molecules). To overcome this problem, biaxially oriented lm with equal transverse and longitudinal direction properties can be made. The orientation of LCP molecules varies through the thickness of the lm, while at the two faces of the lm molecules are oriented at opposite angles. When the angles are +45 and 45 at either side, the mechanical properties, such as coefcient of thermal expansion, tensile strength and modulus are nearly isotropic [17, 18]. Commercial LCP material is supplied in thin lm with predened thickness ranging from 25 m to 3 mm. One or both sides of the LCP lm may have 18 m thick copper cladding. This copper layer is laminated in a vacuum press at a temperature around the melting point of LCP [17]. There are many types of LCP products and their properties may be slightly different from one to another. In our work, we used biaxial LCP lms made from Vectra R A-950 aromatic liquid crystal polymer. It is produced by Hoechst Celanese Corporation and supplied by Rogers Cooperation. The thickness of the lm is 51 m. The reported melting temperature of Vectra A-950 is 280 C. The specic gravity ranges from 1.37 to 1.42 kg m3, and the molecular weight is greater than 20 000 g mol1. The root-mean-square (RMS) surface roughness of LCP lm is measured to be 190 nm using a Veeco NT 1000 interferometer, which has a surface height measurement accuracy of less than 1 nm. It is useful to compare LCP with Kapton, a polymer lm that has been used in MEMS in recent years. Compared with Kapton polyimide lm (table 1), LCP has a low cost (50% 80% lower than Kapton), is relatively unaffected by moisture and humidity, is not attacked by certain caustic solutions [11, 20] and is melt-processible. As a result, bonding between LCP and another substrate (e.g. glass) is simplied. For example, whereas Kapton is often bonded with an intermediate adhesive layer, LCP lms can bond to other surfaces directly by thermal lamination.

Table 1. Comparison of physical, chemical, mechanical and electrical properties of LCP and Kapton. LCP (Vectra A-950) Melting temperature Dielectric constant Loss factor, tan Moisture absorption Coefcient of thermal expansion Tensile strength Tensile modulus Specic gravity 280 C 2.8 0.004 <0.02% 030 ppm/ C controllable 30 Kpsi 1.3 Mpsi 1.4 kg m3 Kapton (HN200) >400 C 3.5 0.002 2.8% 20 ppm/ C 34 Kpsi 370 Kpsi 1.42 kg m3

2. Development of micro fabrication processes for LCP

2.1. Chemical compatibility The compatibility of LCP with commonly used chemicals in micromachining was rst investigated. LCP samples (1 cm 1 cm 51 m) were immersed in approximately 200 ml chemical solutions at room temperature. The chemicals that were tested included: (1) organic solvents including acetone and alcohol, (2) metal etchants for Al, Au and Cr, (3) oxide etchants (49% HF and buffered HF) and (4) AZ and SU-8 photoresist developers. After 60 min, LCP samples were removed and rinsed with deionized water. The samples were then examined to determine the extent of chemical attack. First, a visual inspection under an optical microscope was performed to determine if there was any discoloration or surface erosion. Then the surface proles were examined using a Veeco NT 1000 interferometer to determine if any surface roughening occurred. Extensive testing showed no apparent surface roughness change before and after chemical compatibility tests. This indicates that LCP is not attacked or dissolved by these chemicals. 2.2. Development of fabrication processes A common processing technique for LCP is laser machining [2123], resulting in minimum feature sizes on the order of 25 m and larger. However, in MEMS applications, features with characteristic sizes smaller than 25 m may be frequently encountered. Conventional MEMS fabrication processes, such as photolithography, metallization and plasma etching, need to be applied on LCP with proper modication. Such processes have been developed and characterized in our work. Procedures for photolithography and metallization were rst developed. Since LCP lms are thin and exible, they are sometimes not perfectly planar (as silicon). This introduces problems in spin coating of photoresist and lithography. We developed two methods of eliminating unwanted warpage in LCP. First, LCP lm can be attached to a at solid surface (e.g., silicon wafer) with a dissolvable adhesion layer (e.g., photoresist) before processing. This ensures surface atness during the process. The LCP lm can be readily detached by dissolving the adhesion layer after processing. For example, a square LCP lm with a size of 3.5 cm 3.5 cm attached 629

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Figure 1. Demonstration of oxygen plasma etching of LCP: (a) deposition and patterning of Al on LCP lm; (b) partial oxygen plasma etch of LCP; (c) second patterning of Al etch mask; (d) plasma etch through LCP, leaving a ap; (e) removal of Al mask.

Figure 2. SEM micrograph showing a at ap supported by two xed-free beams in the LCP lm.

to a silicon wafer by photoresist can be released in acetone within 3 min. Second, warpage caused by heating during metal evaporation can be alleviated by performing evaporation in short intervals; this allows dissipation of heat generated in the process and limits the temperature rise. Subsequently, we developed a reactive ion etching (RIE) recipe for LCP using oxygen plasma. A typical etching rate for a Vectra A-950 LCP lm in an oxygen plasma RIE machine (12 inch chamber, Plasma-Thermal Inc.) was found to be 0.22 0.27 m min1 at a power of 350 W and under a chamber pressure of 500 mTorr. Evaporated aluminum served well as an etch mask in the RIE process. The etched LCP lm has an increased surface roughness. The etching prole is nearly isotropic. As an example of RIE etching, we fabricated a suspended ap supported by two exural cantilevers. The fabrication process is discussed as follows. An LCP lm with an aluminum thin lm was rst patterned (gure 1(a)) and partially etched in oxygen plasma (gure 1(b)). The aluminum mask was then patterned again (gure 1(c)) and a through-lm etch was conducted (gure 1(d)). These two consecutive RIE processes formed a 10 m thick microap connected to a 51 m thick bulk LCP frame by two cantilever beams (gure 2). Surface examinations before and after the processes showed that the RMS roughness of the etched LCP surface had been increased from 190 nm (before RIE) to 1.138 m (after RIE). We have also developed lamination processes that allow LCP to be bonded to materials and structures of importance in MEMS. We found that, by applying slight pressure, LCP lm can be bonded to various MEMS-related materials using thermal bonding at a temperature below its melting point. Our experiments showed that Vectra A-950 LCP lm can be bonded to another LCP, glass, copper, gold or silicon surface at 260 C270 C using a simple lamination roller. The combination of low-temperature and low-pressure bonding makes LCP processing attractive for fabricating complex, multilayer, three-dimensional structures using lamination. 630

Figure 3. Schematic diagram of the blister test apparatus used to determine bonding energy between LCP and other materials (e.g., glass).

The lamination bonding is an alternative to anodic bonding, which requires high voltage, and thermal fusion bonding, which requires high temperatures and prime-grade surface smoothness. For example, the anodic bonding process between silicon and bulk glass typically requires moderately higher temperature (300 C) and high voltage (1000 V). The bonding strength between LCP and other materials is important for achieving reliability and performance. We have conducted a blister test to determine the bonding strength at LCP-glass interfaces. As shown in gure 3, an LCP lm was thermally bonded to a glass holder. Pressure from an N2 source was adjusted using a manual pressure regulator and applied to the LCP lm through a hole (0.125 diameter) in the glass holder. The N2 source was able to provide a maximum pressure of 29.94 psi (206.4 kPa). The pressure was measured by a pressure transducer with a resolution of 0.01 psi. Experiments showed that LCP-glass bonding could withstand at least 29.94 psi pressure difference. At an applied pressure of 29.93 psi the average deection of the blister at its geometric center was 45 m. According to analytical formula [24], the bonding energy was at least 46 J m2, sufcient for many MEMS applications and enough to prevent accidental debonding.

Liquid crystal polymer for MEMS: processes and applications

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Resistance Change (PPM)

Figure 4. Schematic diagram of a LCP polymer ow sensor. (a) When there is no ow rate, the cantilever is straight. (b) Flow imparts momentum on the cantilever and causes bending.

140 120 100 80 60 40 20 0 0 5 10 15 Flow Rate, v (m/s)

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3. Demonstration of LCP in MEMS applications

There are many potential microdevice applications in which LCP materials can be used. LCP can serve as a exible substrate material to fabricate devices such as planar neuron probes, micro tactile sensors and radio frequency MEMS (e.g., antennas, capacitors and inductors). In this section, we discuss two sensors, a ow sensor and a tactile sensor, based on the LCP material. Our objective is to demonstrate the proof-of-concept for such sensors. In-depth optimization and characterizations of each sensor will be carried out in the future. 3.1. Flow sensors Most existing micromachined sensors have been developed using single crystal silicon substrates [25]. An important reason for making sensors out of silicon lies in the fact that piezoresistive elements can be realized in silicon by selective doping. However, silicon devices are relatively expensive and less robust when compared to polymer and metal-based devices. A silicon beam may fracture easily in the presence of shock or contact. Using new polymers and processes with traditional metal lm strain gauges we have made a cantilever beam ow meter. As shown in gure 4, ow imparts momentum on the cantilever and causes it to bend, inducing strain at the base of the cantilever. The strain is sensed using a piezoresistive sensor made of thin lm metal. While the gauge factor of doped silicon can reach 80200 [26], the gauge factor of thin lm metal is much lower, typically ranging from 1 to 5, as shown by our experiments. However, the increased compliance of these polymer lm devices has been shown to offset the reduced gauge factor of metal lm strain gauges resulting in sensitivity comparable to silicon-based devices. The ow sensor uses nickelchrome (NiCr) strain gauges on an LCP cantilever that is 1000 m wide and 3000 m long. Figure 5(a) shows a micrograph of the completed device. Wind tunnel testing with ow rates from 0 to 20 m s1 showed a velocity-squared relationship as expected [27, 28], as seen in the quadratic trend line in gure 5(b). Assuming that a uniform ow rate (u) is applied on an LCP ow sensor with

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Figure 5. (a) Optical micrograph of a cantilever ow sensor. (b) Experimentally measured output characteristics as a function of ow rate.

length l, width w and thickness t, the output ( R/R) is related to u by R 3GCD l 2 u2 = (1) R 2Et 2 where G, CD, and E are the gauge factor of the metal strain gauge, drag coefcient, uid density and Youngs modulus of the LCP material, respectively. 3.2. Tactile sensors Conventional micromachined tactile sensors are mostly made out of silicon material. Such sensors suffer from the lack of mechanical robustness. We fabricated a 4 4 tactile sensor array using the 51 m thick LCP material without copper cladding, using a process sequence illustrated in gure 6. Each sensor node consists of a 20 m thick membrane on which NiCr strain gauges are located on the edges. 20 m tall polyimide bumps were applied to the top of membrane regions to provide contact surfaces (gure 6( f )). The polyimide structure is made using spin coating and photolithographic denition. A micrograph of a 2 2 array of individual tactile sensor nodes is shown in gure 7(a). Each sensor node is built on a 500 m square membrane. The tactile membrane displacement is measured using a precision linearly variable differential transformer (LVDT). According to clamped plate 631

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1400 Resistance Change (PPM) 1200 1000 800 600 400 200 0 0 5 10 15 Displacement, d (m)
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Figure 6. Schematic diagram of the fabrication process of a tactile sensor using LCP material. (a) An LCP lm without copper cladding is used; (b) pattern NiCr strain gauges on front side of LCP lm; (c) pattern aluminum RIE mask on back side; (d) RIE etch from back side; (e) pattern gold interconnects on front side; ( f ) pattern polyimide bump on front side.

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Figure 7. (a) Optical micrograph of an array of tactile sensors. (b) Mechanical output response of a single sensor node.

theory [29], the maximum stress ( max) at the center of an edge of a square plate with xed sides is linear with applied deection according to 22.14zmax Et (2) b2 where zmax is the maximum central plate deection, E the tensile modulus, t the plate thickness and b the plate width. The strain gauge is positioned over this region of maximum stress. While the stress is not maximal across the entire gauge it is assumed that the overall response of the strain gauge is proportional to the maximum. Under small deections, the strain and resulting change in resistance are expected to be linear. The tactile bump height (20 m) ensures that deection beyond this regime does not occur under most contact situations. Initially, the devices exhibit a hysteretic behavior that disappears after the devices have been exed a few times. We hypothesize that this effect is due to relaxation of residual stresses in the metal lms under mechanical deection and possible viscoelastic ow of the LCP lm. max =

is not attacked or dissolved by commonly used chemicals in microfabrication. Conventional MEMS fabrication processes, such as photolithography, metallization and plasma etching, have been applied on LCP. A thermal bonding process for LCP with various material surfaces has been developed. We also demonstrate proof-of-concept experiments of functional ow sensors and tactile sensors made using newly developed LCP processing techniques.

Acknowledgments
This material is based upon work supported by the US AFOSR grant F49620-01-0496 and the National Science Foundation under grant 9984954 and grant 0080639.

References
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4. Conclusions
Micromachining techniques for liquid crystal polymer (LCP) have been developed and reported. LCP has a good combination of physical, electrical and chemical properties, which make it suitable for certain MEMS applications. Chemical compatibility tests show that LCP 632

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